


if you're wondering if i want you to (i want you to)

by Likedeadends



Series: 25 days of Johnmas [2]
Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fake Dating, Friends to Lovers, M/M, johnny and mingyu are oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27850546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likedeadends/pseuds/Likedeadends
Summary: Mingyu can't help but meddle in his friend's love life. Johnny is a good friend and even better sidekick.
Relationships: Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Kim Mingyu/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Series: 25 days of Johnmas [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038778
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	if you're wondering if i want you to (i want you to)

“Jeonghan has a crush on Joshua.” Mingyu says by way of greeting. 

Johnny looks up from the work he was pretending to do and blinks in response. He tries to place where he’s heard of Jeonghan before but comes up blank.

“Explain.”

“What is there to explain? We went to lunch today and he mentioned that he thinks Joshua is cute. That is the most interest Jeonghan has expressed in anyone in… quite some time.” 

Johnny hums. He remembers that Jeonghan is Mingyu’s friend from work (read: project). Johnny has become privy to The Jeonghan Chronicles as told through Mingyu’s eyes, which is mostly just Mingyu constantly saying how he doesn’t understand someone as handsome as Jeonghan being single. 

“And how exactly did he manage to see my cousin?” Johnny knows where this is going. Mingyu is going to contrive some new plan to get Jeonghan to go on a date with Joshua and Johnny will be forced to assist. Such is the life of being Mingyu’s best friend. 

“I might have been showing him photos.” Mingyu says, faux casual. Johnny rolls his eyes. 

“And how have you decided to get them to meet?” 

“Easy. I’m taking you on a date.” 

Johnny splutters. He sits up from his previously very relaxed position and stares at his friend like he just grew a third head. “You’re doing what?” 

Mingyu just laughs.

“Taking you on a date. C’mon, Johnny. No one says no to a double date. Especially not Jeonghan. Especially not after I explained to him that I need the moral support because I’ve been in love with you for years.” He bats his eyes. Johnny hates when he plays cute. 

“But you aren’t in love with me.” Johnny says slowly. “And I don’t want to go on a date with you.” 

“I know that! They don’t know that, though!” Mingyu sits next to Johnny and grabs at his bicep. He’s pouting now, making a real big show of it. “Listen, you can’t say no because I already got Joshua to agree and you’ll look like a real asshole if you stand up your best friend.” 

Johnny is honestly, begrudgingly, a little impressed. Most of the time when Mingyu gets him involved in these things, it’s just helping him stalk different people on social media. Mingyu has woven a web with this one that Johnny cannot think he way out of. He concedes. 

“Fine.” He pulls his arm from Mingyu’s hands. “But if they hit it off, we are telling them the truth straight away.” 

“Yeah, of course! Jeonghan’s just shy. This is going to be perfect!” 

Johnny does not agree.

\--

Johnny’s relationship with Mingyu has never been complicated. They met through mutual friends, got too drunk together at someone’s bachelor party, and were inseparable ever since (the bond you make slumped over the bathroom sink at 2am is unbreakable). 

They get each other. They even each other out. Sometimes Mingyu is too high strung and needs Johnny’s laidback attitude. Sometimes Johnny gets too in his head and needs a little of Mingyu’s carelessness. 

Their texts have been endless stream of consciousness back and forth to each other for the better part of three years. They have standing dinner plans on Friday nights where they try a new restaurant based on the letter of the alphabet it starts with. Each of them has half of the other’s wardrobe at their own apartment because there’s no telling who will end up where at any point. They have spare keys (which Johnny regrets because sometimes Mingyu lets himself in at any time of the night and sneaks into Johnny’s bed. Mingyu regrets it because Johnny buys him groceries when he forgets). 

It’s an easy friendship. They bicker sometimes, they disagree, but they’re both good communicators so it never escalates to something unfixable. 

Johnny loves Mingyu and Mingyu loves him and no one questions it. When Johnny is invited somewhere, it’s universally implied that Mingyu is invited too and vice versa. 

So, Johnny agrees to Mingyu’s plans and doesn’t gripe too much because he knows it’s important to Mingyu. He puts on his nicest button up and his good jeans. He tucks his shirt into his pants and styles his hair the way Mingyu always tells him looks best. He even uses his expensive cologne and sends Mingyu a few dollars to buy him flowers (“to play up the whole thing”). 

**Mingyu:** Are you going to let me hold your hand?  
 **Johnny:** Depends. Are your palms sweaty?   
**Mingyu:** This isn’t going to go well if you draw the line at sweaty palms. 

Johnny laughs to himself and sends back a thumbs up. Mingyu runs a little hotter than Johnny does and his hands are _always_ sweaty. Johnny is willing to live with it to make Mingyu happy, though. It is apparently imperative that he sells this whole thing well. 

He shows up to the restaurant early because that’s what he would do on a real date. He is not surprised to find Joshua there as well. 

He waves his cousin down outside the front door and they hug. 

“So, Mingyu huh?” Joshua says, looking entirely too entertained. Johnny plays coy, tries to look shy, and nods. 

“Yeah, I guess I won him over with my charms.” It feels weird to say. He has never thought of Mingyu romantically and he feels bad lying. 

“Are you nervous? Why are you nervous? You guys have basically been dating for, like, years now anyways. I always thought I just missed the memo.” Joshua, for his part, actually does look nervous. Johnny can tell he’s deflecting, he tells himself that’s where the dating comment comes from. 

“You’ll like Jeonghan,” is what Johnny chooses to say, rather than acknowledge the other comment. 

As if on cue, Mingyu and Jeonghan round the corner together. They are both holding a single long stemmed rose and Johnny is already prepared to give Mingyu shit for it later on. 

Mingyu looks handsome. He always looks handsome, but it’s a little different tonight. He looks like he’s done his usual first date song and dance. His hair is combed back the way Johnny always tells him looks best. He’s wearing the shirt Johnny bought him last Christmas. 

“There you are!” Mingyu says, loud enough to set the mood for the rest of them. “You look lovely tonight, Johnny.” He hands the rose over with the compliment, brushes his fingers over Johnny’s as he does it. “And Joshua, handsome as ever!” 

Mingyu and Joshua also have an easy relationship. They met when at Johnny’s twenty second birthday party and decided the world would be better if they were friends, too. 

Johnny offers an encouraging smile to Jeonghan, who looks a little out of his element while Mingyu and Joshua say their hellos. 

“Nice to see you again!” Johnny says, offering an encouraging pat on Jeonghan’s shoulder. He looks thankful for it and returns the greeting before moving into Joshua’s field of vision and offering up his own flower. 

Joshua looks happy enough with it, taking the rose and tucking it into the pocket of his jacket and then introducing himself to Jeonghan officially. 

“You really did get all dolled up for me, hm?” Mingyu says in Johnny’s ear. Johnny laughs, nudging his elbow into the firm muscles of Mingyu’s stomach and trying to push him away. 

“This is the first date I’ve been on in awhile. You might not kiss me at the door when you walk me home, but I owed it to myself to play pretend.” 

Mingyu smiles a softer one, secretive, and he curls a hand around Johnny’s elbow. “C’mon, the table is ready.” 

The night progresses easily. 

Jeonghan and Joshua do hit it off especially well. They joke with each other behind their menus and their chairs slowly get closer and closer as the wine gets passed around. 

Mingyu and Johnny started close (Mingyu insisted, he said that Joshua would notice if they were acting strange). At one point, Johnny let Mingyu feed him because Mingyu was giving him basically no other option. They link pinkys over dessert because Mingyu sent Johnny a text that said Jeonghan was taking cues from them. Moments later, Jeonghan has Joshua’s hand in his own.

Johnny stares at Mingyu in wonder. Is he some sort of love doctor? 

They share dessert because they always do. The conversation is easy around the whole table, even though it cuts off into random asides as each couple turns to each other to make comments or additional jokes. Johnny catches Joshua’s eye from time to time and tries to ignore the look he’s getting. 

Mingyu has chocolate on his upper lip and Johnny doesn’t think twice about wiping it away with his finger. 

“Thanks, baby.” Mingyu teases. Johnny rolls his eyes fondly but makes no further comment. 

Mingyu pays for himself and Johnny. Joshua surprises them by taking care of himself and Jeonghan. Johnny doesn’t know when his cousin got so suave. Jeonghan looks absolutely taken with him. 

They part ways at the entrance of the restaurant. 

“I’m going to walk Jeonghan to his car.” Joshua says. They’re tucked into each other, the product of some very successful Mingyu meddling. Mingyu and Johnny both say their goodbyes and then they’re left with each other. 

“Did you take the subway?” Mingyu asks. 

“Yeah, didn’t feel like fighting for parking.” 

“Let me take you home, then.” 

Johnny is agreeable, rose in one hand and Mingyu’s sweaty palm in the other. He’s sure to anyone they pass on the walk back to the care they look like smitten young lovers, but they’re just Johnny and Mingyu and they have always been like this. 

“I think your plan worked.” Johnny comments from the passenger seat, thumbing through his music library to pick something to play while Mingyu drives. 

“Of course it did. I’m never wrong about these things.” 

“How about you get me a date next time?” Johnny asks after settling for his commute playlist on shuffle. 

“Wow! Our date isn’t even over yet and you’ve decided I’m not worth a second one?” Mingyu plays offended, though the smile on his lips betrays him. 

Johnny reaches over and pats Mingyu’s arm consolingly. “Sorry, baby. You’re too much for me. I’m worried you would break my heart.” 

“Never.” Mingyu says and it sounds a little more serious. 

\--

Things don’t really change after that night. They go back and forth between each other’s apartments, they have their Friday dinners, they buy each other goofy sweaters when the weather gets colder. It’s coming up on Christmas, so they go looking at lights together. 

Jeonghan and Joshua make things official after a second date. Johnny forces Mingyu to come clean to them. 

“You were faking it?” Jeonghan looks entirely unconvinced. Johnny can see why, considering him and Mingyu are squished together in what is meant to be a one person armchair. They fit like two puzzle pieces and it’s nice when the weather is cold. 

“Yes and you should really thank us for it.” Mingyu insists, drawing his fingers up and down the side of Johnny’s arm out of habit. “You wouldn’t have been half as charming without me there to give you the encouragement.” 

Joshua laughs loudly at that and curls himself next to Jeonghan on the couch. “He would have been just fine without you, actually. After you showed him my pictures he followed me on instagram. We were actually talking quite a bit before the date.” 

Johnny is endlessly amused by that. Mingyu looks like he’s just been told Santa Claus doesn’t exist. 

“So you’re saying you didn’t even need me?” 

“No! Of course we did! Jeonghan wouldn’t have found me otherwise.” Joshua tries to remedy the situation. 

Mingyu pretends to be put out for a couple more minutes.Then Joshua changes the subject. 

“So, you mean to tell me the two of you _aren’t_ dating?” 

Johnny and Mingyu look at each other and laugh and laugh and laugh. Of course they aren’t dating.

“Us dating? No way. I’ve seen Mingyu face down in the toilet too many times to be interested.” Johnny insists. 

“Yeah, and I’ve seen Johnny’s pickup lines go south enough times to know that he’d only ever embarrass me as a boyfriend.” Mingyu chuckles, a familiar hand slipping through Johnny’s hair. 

Joshua does not look convinced. For his part, neither does Jeonghan. 

“Isn’t that, like, the most settled thing though? Like when you first start dating someone you try not to be embarrassing or anything, but the closer you get, the more you’re comfortable being human together.” Joshua says. He’s looking between the two of them like they’re crazy. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re great friends and all, but… You are basically dating. You go grocery shopping for each other, you call each other’s moms at least one a week, you have a date night!” Now Joshua sounds more accusatory. 

Johnny frowns. Isn’t that all just what friends do? 

Mingyu looks exactly as confused. 

“No, we’re just friends.” Mingyu says, leaning his head onto Johnny’s shoulder. Joshua drops the topic but doesn’t stop giving them weird looks for the rest of the night. 

\-- 

Johnny is putting away some of Mingyu’s laundry a few days later when it hits him. 

They’re dating. 

They’re not just dating. They’re practically married. 

Mingyu sneaks into his house for cuddles at least twice a week. They cook dinner for each other. They go to work events with each other instead of searching for actual dates. Neither of them have even been on a date in a long time. Johnny realizes he never felt the need to because he always had Mingyu. 

When Jaehyun and Taeyong and Jungwoo were always teasing him relentlessly about being single, he never realized he had a boyfriend this whole time. Technically. 

It sets him into an anxious bout of house cleaning. He dusts shelves and fluffs pillows and lights a candle and tries not to think about the fact that his love and comfort with Mingyu might be more than platonic. He also tries not to think about Mingyu on his way over any minute, with hot chocolate and Christmas movies and his _spare key_. 

Johnny stares at his reflection in the coffee table and feels like an idiot. How had his cousin figured it out first? 

He is still reeling from the realization when Mingyu lets himself in the front door. 

“They didn’t have the peppermint at the coffee place, but I remembered I put some mini candies in the tree when we decorated last week.” Mingyu calls from the door. Johnny listens to him toe off his shoes and then watches him come into view, shuffling in his cute house slippers that Johnny bought for him a few months into their friendship. Mingyu sets two to go cups on the coffee table and then goes to Johnny’s christmas tree and pulls off two candy canes. 

He hums a Christmas carol while he does it. He takes the lid off both the cups, unwraps the candy canes, and sets them inside with the whipped cream and chocolate. The whole event takes less than a minute and Johnny is beside himself. Mingyu is so comfortable in Johnny’s life, just letting himself in and helping himself to the tree decorations. Knowing Johnny likes peppermint in his hot chocolate. Wearing the house slippers. 

“You okay?” Mingyu asks after he sits next to Johnny. He’s letting himself under the blanket Johnny already had draped across his lap. Johnny stares at him for an ever expanding second. 

“Mingyu.” Johnny starts, uncertain where he’s going. 

Mingyu looks at him expectantly. 

“Did you know we’re dating?” 

Mingyu smiles his most beautiful smile and laughs a very gentle laugh. 

“I think I figured it out after what Joshua said last week.” 

Johnny feels relieved that he wasn’t the only one living completely oblivious. 

He stares at Mingyu again, considers him at face value. Mingyu is a classic kind of handsome, kind of unfairly so. Johnny always thought that, but then never thought much of it. He thinks all of his friends are gorgeous, it doesn’t have to mean anything. 

But Mingyu’s handsome is more than skin deep. He’s got a beautiful spirit and the more Johnny thinks about that, the sappier his heart gets. He knows he never felt for Mingyu the same way he did for Taeyong or Jaehyung or Jungwoo, but he convinced himself that was just the difference between friends and best friends. 

“Hey, Mingyu?” Johnny hears himself ask. 

“Yeah?” 

“If we’re dating, does that mean I can kiss you?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

They don’t make it through their Christmas movies that night. 

Joshua is the first one to like Johnny’s status when he updates it to in a relationship with Mingyu.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 2 of Johnmas. Also, I really love this pairing even if there are like 3 pieces of proof in the entire world that they even know each other. I did side jihan for my friend haily who will probably never read this piece but that is okay. 
> 
> johngyu fake dating is perhaps my new favorite thing in the world and i dont think i will ever emotionally recover. 
> 
> thank you for reading!


End file.
